---When
the Samaritan woman gave the Lord water from Jacob’s
well, he offers her water from a fountain.
---This passage does not
refer to a natural fountain, that is clear, but to a
fountain of living water. “But whoever drinks of
the water that I shall give him will never thirst. But
the water that I shall give him will become in him a
fountain of water springing up into everlasting life”
(John 4:14). The word “fountain”, that can
be understood as “washbasin”, can be better
translated as “spring”; and instead of saying
“springing up” it could be translated as “gushing
out” . It is a spring of living water gushing out,
which the woman will have in her heart.
---The well waits for you
to go and take out what you need; but a spring is self-sufficient.
And this spring is even more precious, for it provides
the provision from the inside, without you having to
go out and look for it someplace else.
---The fountain or spring
talks to us about a permanent provision, and even more
so, about the water that will gush from inside of us,
therefore, it is flowing water, not stagnant. It is
purer then the water from a well; it is transparent
and clear.
---Nevertheless, the figure
of water does not end there. Later in John’s gospel
we find a river. “He who believes in Me, as
the Scripture has said, out of his heart will flow rivers
of living water” (7:38). It is a continuation
of the living water teaching. There it is a spring and
here it is a river.
---The river surges in
a spring, but it is more than a spring. It is the channel
that advances, vivifying, blessing many at every step.
And this water, first in the fountain and now in the
river, is the Holy Spirit. The Lord tells us, “But
this he spoke concerning the Spirit, whom those believing
in Him would receive” (v. 39). It is the Holy
Spirit, not outside of us, but inside of us.
---This Spirit is fountain
and river. Fountain, because it provides the provision,
and river, because it flows to bless others. It is fountain,
because it does not stop supplying us, and it is river,
because it does not stop blessing others.
---In the book of Revelations
the fountain and the river appear again. The fountain
in chapter 21, and the river in chapter 22.
---The Lord invites: “I
will give of the fountain of the water of life freely
to him who thirsts” (21:6). And the river,
is in the New Jerusalem. In fact, there is a pure river
of water of life, clear as crystal, proceeding from
the throne of God and of the Lamb. This river surrounds
the tree of life, that bores twelve fruits, and the
leaves of the tree are for the healing of the nations.
The river of God is the one that vivifies the tree.
It is the same river of God, that vivifies today, and
that will keep vivifying us for all eternity.
(Translation:
Betsy Calvo, USA).
